Advocates shine light on homelessness

Saturday

Dec 22, 2007 at 2:00 AM

Arielle Biron first met a homeless person on a Boston street four years ago. Last night, she and some of her classmates joined several hundred like-minded people on Hyannis Town Green to help mark National Homeless Persons Memorial Day.

PATRICK CASSIDY

HYANNIS — Arielle Biron first met a homeless person on a street in Boston four years ago.

The Harwich High School sophomore didn't hesitate when the woman asked her for food. Biron ran inside the restaurant where her family ate and had her mother wrap up dinner for the stranger.

"I couldn't just let her stay out there and starve," Biron said yesterday.

The experience inspired the South Chatham 16-year-old to do more.

Since the Boston encounter, she has raised money for UNICEF, worked in a food pantry and spearheaded an effort to buy farm animals for the poor.

Last night, Biron and a handful of her classmates joined several hundred like-minded people on Hyannis Town Green to help mark National Homeless Persons Memorial Day.

"It was a good sad," Biron said after the memorial. "It was good to hear people talk about people that they know."

Speakers at the annual event remembered the dozen homeless people on Cape Cod who died in the past year. Paintings by a pair of local homeless artists depicting life on the streets surrounded the wreath-laden bandstand, while onlookers lit candles and honored the dead.

Earlier in the day at a simulated homeless camp in front of the Federated Church on Main Street, homeless artist Davio said he was forced to live on the streets after suffering a brain injury in 2005. After emerging from a coma, a series of turns left the painter homeless. Now in transitional housing, Davio, 50, welcomed the opportunity to show others that anyone can become homeless.

"It's a great opportunity as an artist and also sheds light on the problem in Hyannis and the nation," said fellow artist Jonathan Webb.

The 42-year-old artist is new to the streets. Webb was living in a garage apartment until about three weeks ago but now spends most nights at the NOAH shelter, he said.

Webb's story is typical for many people who live on the Cape. He vacationed here as a child and always had an "affinity for the place." He served in the Coast Guard for four years and made a living through his art and odd jobs, he said.

Despite the difficulty of securing housing and the "rough" winters, Webb stayed on the Cape because it fed his creativity. "For an artist, it's utopia," he said.

Biron was impressed with Webb and Davio's works. "They were incredible," she said.

The men hope to produce prints and sell them to raise money for the homeless, Davio said.